Hello
for those who will be in Belgium in jan, 5 days (5 !) of strikes are scheduled to take place for the trains (at national level).

Dialogue social rompu à la SNCB: les cinq jours de grève maintenus
Le Soir‎ - Il y a 18 heures
Les préavis de grève sont maintenus le 5, 6, 21, 22 et 23 janvier.

Train strikes in Belgium have a tendency to be quite effective, we don't have like in France a 'minimum service level'.

Merci - at least this time I managed to pick "safe" dates for my business trips.

Just curious; what are they striking for? Or is it just to remind folks they have the power to do so?

Here, public services usually have a number of legally required negotiating steps to go through before they can actually disrupt the services and piss people off.

Take note of pariswat's warning. I was there during a strike last April and <u>nothing</u> was moving. All rental cars were snapped up and there was simply no way to get from city to city. I was supposed to travel from Bruges to the Ardennes on the day of the strike and ended up being 'stuck' in Bruges an extra night (it is a lovely town so no problem). It was hard to find a place to stay that night because no one could check out and leave town.

seems like a spate of trains strikes in Belgium - would give me pause for concern in planning a rail-oriented trip there

Are Thalys trains affected by these type of strikes?

Hi PQ
Usually Thalys are unaffected.
I'll check because I do travel with Thalys on these dates.

I'm not sure - but I think all trains were affected last April. I know the train stations were all closed up.

And German ICEs?

They do always try to negotiate, but negotiations have broken down and they don't agree. Strikes are almost always about money (I have never seen one over anything else, such as safer equipment, but that would be possible), whether it's salary, benefits or time off.

Something to do with management says they are supposed to work 36 hours a week but in reality, the average working time is not that high so they want to introduce some measures to increase productivity to justify pensions before age 60, or maybe reduce the 8 weeks of time off per year, something like that. The union spokespeople are shocked, shocked at the dogmatic attitudes of the management.

I thought Thalys and Eurostar were affected some a few months ago during strikes, also, but don't know for sure--not as much as others.

A few months ago was a more global strike - including people at the planning.

If it is only SQncb, Thalys should remain unaffected.

'Or is it just to remind folks they have the power to do so?'

Excellent definition in my eyes.
Actually I don't know why they strike and will not try to know - they have indeed the power to take their clients hostage, and I hate that - so I never support a strike based on abuse of position. Such as Transport, planes, trains, fuel stations etc.

If they wanted to strike and 'just ' anny their bosses, why not run and let everybody ride for free ?

Students associations have asked to postpone since the strike is going to be during their exams.
Answer of unions : no but they propose some carsharing...

'Tu râles parce que tu te sens pris en otage, parce que les médias te persuadent que les cheminots font grève juste pour t'embêter.'

http://www.lalibre.be/actu/belgique/...70ed38948a9708

-> ben oui, connard ! (I don't like strikes).

Pfffffffff. Let us privatize the rail.

Privatizing the rail system in Britain was a disaster - poor performing trains; trains way below the Continent in speed and comfy and super crowded trains - especially regional ones. They now have about 30 separate franchises to run the former national BritRail system and IME of riding both they are much worse off now than before.

Privitization often means profits ahead of service. And IMO a railway like a road is a public utility and should be the expense of the state - now certain areas like train cleaning and track maintenance could be privatized but not the whole state system that should first serve the people even if that means lower profits - Britain notoriously closed many money-losing local trains - though this actually was done under the nefarious Beeching dude wielding the Beeching Ax under the BritRail service - probably was under a Tory government! (Not sure bout that!)

Off topic : Paris installed safety checks like at airports
to board Thalys

I tried to create a topic but my 2 attempts were denied. posting too much ?

MISE EN PLACE DE PORTIQUES DE SECURITE A PARIS-NORD


Cher voyageur,

Conformément à la demande du gouvernement français, des portiques de sécurité ont été installés en gare de Paris-Nord, à l’entrée des quais de départ Thalys.

Ils seront opérationnels à partir du 20 décembre.

Nous conseillons à nos clients, en particulier s’ils ont des bagages, de se présenter en tête de quai environ 20 minutes* avant le départ du train afin de pouvoir franchir ces portiques et faire scanner leurs bagages en toute sérénité. Toutefois, en tant que client fréquent, vous bénéficiez d’un accès rapide. Veuillez présenter votre carte Thalys TheCard Platinium ou Platinium + pour emprunter la file réservée aux clients prioritaires.

Dans l'éventualité des contrôles d'identité par les autorités nationales, veuillez présenter une pièce d'identité valide.

Notre personnel est mobilisé pour garantir votre confort. Des agents seront présents sur le quai pour mieux vous accueillir et vous accompagner.


Nous vous remercions de votre coopération et de votre confiance.
L'équipe Thalys International

We were there in October during a strike and were concerned about getting from Bruges to Luxembourg. However, that route was unaffected and we were told that, even if it were, the ticket agent would be able to route us another way.

>>We were there in October during a strike and were concerned about getting from Bruges to Luxembourg. However, that route was unaffected and we were told that, even if it were, the ticket agent would be able to route us another way.<<

That would depend on what sort of strike it was. The one in April affected everything and there were no trains (or buses) out of Bruges to anywhere - and no agents working that one could ask. The station was closed. The small Tourist office just outside the station was open -- and had a loooooong line of upset tourists waiting to get info. One young backpacker was almost hysterical. She just kept saying 'I have to get to Amsterdam for my flight home tonight', and the Tourist Office volunteer just kept saying 'I'm sorry but there is no transport to Amsterdam or Brussels or anywhere else.'

Well Thalys doesn't ride on 5-6.
I tried to book a train - must go via Lille.
So yes, big strike...